Caput Johannis in disco

Volume 8 of the series Visualising the Middle Ages is dedicated to the iconographical research of the head of Saint John the Baptist. In Caput Joahnnis in disco professor Barbara Baert (KU Leuven) explores the head of Saint John as an artifact. How exactly did these objects function? How are we to understand this fascination with horror, death and decapitation? What phantasms does the artifact channel? Baert contextualizes the head of Saint John as a cultural phenomenon against the background of relic cults and the diverse artistic production that encompasses both high and low registers of medieval material culture.

More info: http://www.brill.nl/caput-johannis-disco